Sometimes it doesn't take much to entertain me. Lately I've found myself watching a TV reality series called Pawn Stars - and for those who aren't familiar with the show let me just say that it's better than it sounds. (Video below.) It is truly amazing to see some of the odd objects that people bring in to pawn or sell - although there is obviously some staging going on. After all, you can't very well keep the cameras rolling continuously just on the off chance that someone will walk in with a Super Bowl [...]

LOST: The Final Season is finally here and to pay tribute to my all-time favorite show I've made what I consider to be the definitive mix of music featured on LOST. You can download the entire mix in a zip here , and read how each song is used in the show (plus which episode it appeared first) below. Feel free to use this to soundtrack your LOST premiere party tonight. I'll most likely be posting some thoughts on here as the season progresses. See you in another life, brutha. Download LOST Mix [...]
I admit it. I'm one of those geeks who can't wait for the start of LOST Season 6 tonight. Its really the only TV show that I watch, and I fully blame my buddy Gorrck's wife Sa-Rock for getting me addicted at the start of Season 2 (when the castaways were trying to find out what was in "The Hatch"). Last year I started a project where I was going to re-watch all of the previous LOST episodes, take detailed notes, and start a LOST reading and song list. The LOST writers, editors, producers, whoever [...]

Filed under: News , Grammy Awards , New Releases In 1985, a one-time dream team of musicians calling themselves USA for Africa recorded the song "We Are the World" as a fundraiser for African famine relief. Written by a powerhouse pairing of Michael Jackson with Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones , the original track featured an astounding 43 superstars in addition to the songwriters. Some of the soloists included Bruce Springsteen , Bob Dylan , Paul Simon , Billy Joel [...]

There remain less than 48 hours until the season six premiere of LOST . This evening my little crew reached the end of our series re-watch. That is, we've spent the last three months working our way back through the entire show from the first episode until the season five finale. Two people, Sebastian and Quiggs, had never seen any of the show before. Now they are in the exact same spot as us. I've had three months to closely inspect the series, and feel comfortable answering the same ten questions posed in this most recent issue of [...]
Filed under: Exclusive , Grammy Awards , Between the Notes , Canada Some artists, like the Rolling Stones back in 1986, get their Grammy lifetime achievement recognition too early; others come, as with Michael Jackson this year, sadly too late. But 75-year-old Leonard Cohen has, as always, impeccable timing. Cohen's Grammy 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award arrives at the height of the iconic septuagenarian's umpteenth comeback. A wildly acclaimed two-years-and-counting world tour has seen Cohen storm the gates of [...]
julio iglesias: making CREAM like that n--. willie knows how awesome this is. bonus mathematics:
What does it take to be the Willie Nelson of something? How hard can it be? For your benefit and mine, I've compiled a list...

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News After two successful years during which it rapidly earned a reputation as one of the premiere large-scale festivals in North America, Rothbury Music Festival has announced that it will postpone its third inception until 2011. That means no Rothbury this summer, campers. When Rothbury launched in 2008, the four-day camping event positioned itself as the greenest festival in America, attempting to motivate its tens of thousands of attendees to be a little more eco-conscious in their own lives beyond the [...]
Last year around this time, Brooklyn-based act Phosphorescent released a tribute album of sorts to one of their musical heroes, Willie Nelson . The album entitled To Willie features the band's take on some of Willie's lesser known tunes and has currently been burning up my iPod. Here's the band with a live take on Reasons to Quit... Phosphorescent - Reasons To Quit Phosphorescent will hold down the opening slot on David Gray's upcoming [...]
MUSIC NEWS - T-Bone Burnett has announced he's on board with legend Willie Nelson for the new album, " Country Music " the first release by Willie as part of his new deal with Boston, MA based Rounder Records. The constantly touring Nelson, who regularly is out 200+ days a year touring, has said he'll include songs from the album at shows on his current tour. "Country Music" will feature musicians such as banjo player Riley Baugus, double bassist Dennis Crouch and Burnett himself, all veterans of the sessions for " Raising Sand [...]
Filed under: News , R.I.P. The Louisiana music scene has lost one of its most cherished members as Bobby Charles passed away on Thursday at age 71. Charles, originally from Abbeville, crafted several hits, including 'Walkin' to New Orleans' for Fats Domino and 'I Don't Know Why I Love You (But I Do)' for Clarence "Frogman" Henry. But his best known song started, as so many great ones do, in a bar. Legend has it Charles was walking out of a club when he said, "See you later, alligator." When someone responded, [...]
As a way of rewarding their local fan base, Nada Surf have announced three hometown gigs here in New York City that will kick off their upcoming world tour. The Brooklyn-based indie-pop act will play their three most recent albums in their entirety over the course of three nights at three different venues. The band will tackle Let Go at the Bowery Ballroom (3/25), The Weight Is a Gift at the Bell House (3/26) and Lucky at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (3/27) along with as a mix of b-sides, [...]

For a great many years, I avoided country music like it was the plague. The thing was, in my youth the only country I was exposed to was the 60's Grand Ole Opry style, with all the sequins, cheesy orchestration, and more slide guitar in each song than anyone could possibly need on a whole album. Thankfully, the many years I spent on the retail end of the music industry allowed me to open my pallet to a much wider variety of music. Thanks to this, I belatedly became a huge fan [...]

Tonight's the big BCS Championship Game pitting the University of Texas against the other team from Alabama. The Longhorns' lackluster performance in the Big 12 Championship Game against Nebraska has many "experts" picking the Crimson Tide to roll. Whether they do or not is up for debate, however, I can guarantee you that our cheerleaders will be hotter. Kickoff at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena is set for 7 p.m. CST. Hook 'Em. MP3: "The Eyes of Texas" by the University of Texas Longhorn Band MP3: [...]

Filed under: News , New Music , Exclusive After the viral success of her rendering of the Black Eyed Peas ' 'My Humps,' Alanis Morissette has picked her next cover. This time she's turning to the '80s to cover the Top 10 Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias hit, ' To All the Girls I've Loved Before .' Featuring Nelson on rhythm guitar, Morissette's version will switch genders and be called 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before.' "It's less cheeky and it's [...]
Wednesday 1/6/10 - Lemuria, O Pioneers!!, Stymie at 1919 Hemphill in Fort Worth - [ Info ] Thursday 1/7/10 - Lil Wayne at Allen Events Center - [ Tickets ] - The O's at Vickery Park - [ Info ] Friday 1/8/10 - Willie Nelson at Billy Bob's Fort Worth - [ Tickets ] Sunday 1/10/10 - The Wailers at House of Blues - [ Tickets ] Related posts: [...]

Stu Smith, 1936-2009 My dad passed away on Christmas Eve. He was a great guy who always got the most out of life. He loved his old sailboat and his old cabin in the north woods (even though it lacked indoor plumbing). He also loved a cold beer and a good tune. To honor his memory I decided to resurrect this blog and post a few of his favorite songs here. Those of you who have spent time with Stu will remember hearing many of them on the boat, by [...]

So, my son's been playing with my iPhone a lot recently. I plug it in today, and notice that he's been playing one song quite a bit, ten times in the past few days, in fact. And rather appropriately, given the day, it's Willie Nelson's version of that old Merle Haggard track, "Reasons To Quit". Good, eh? He's a talented boy, I tell you. Hope you are all feeling chipper after last night's partying. I'm feeling hungover, which is bizarre given I only [...]
Norah Jones and Jimmy Kimmel Perform YouTube's 12 Days of Christmas Norah Jones recently teamed up with Jimmy Kimmel for a very funny new performance of "YouTube's 12 Days of Christmas" . The video was featured on the front page of YouTube. Watch YouTube's 12 Days of Christmas: Norah Jones, who will be launching a 36-city tour on March 5, 2010 in support of The Fall , was recently nominated [...]